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U, S. Z\A Cou^./^SV Sfc^*., U^'^-l'gSO. 5era.-Ve, 



OBITUARY ADDRESSES 



DELIVERED ON THE 



OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



OF THE 



HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN, 

A SENATOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 



1\ THE 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
APRIL 1, 1850. 

WITH THE 

FUNERAL SERMON 



OF THE 



REV. C. M. BUTLER, D.D., 



CHAPLAIN OF THE SEN'ATE, 



PREACHED IN THE SENATE, APRIL 2, 1850. 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 




WASHINGTON: ^ 
PRINTED BY JNO. T. TOWERS. 

1850. 



OBITUAHY ADDRESSES. 



In the Senate of the United States. 
Monday, April 1st, 1850. 

On the motion of Mr. King, the reading of the 
Journal of Thursday was dispensed with. 

Mr. Butler rose and said : — 

Mr. President, I rise to discharge a mournful 
duty, and one which involves in it considerations 
well calculated to arrest the attention of this body. 
It is, to announce the death of my late colleague, 
the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun. He died at his 
lodgings in this city, yesterday morning, at half-past 
seven o'clock. He was conscious of his approaching 
end, and met death with fortitude and uncommon 
serenity. He had many admonitions of its approach, 
and without doubt, he had not been indiflerent to 
them. With his usual aversion to professions, he 
said nothing for mere effect on the world, and his 
last hours were an exemplification of his life and 
character, truth and simplicity. 

Mr. Calhoun, for some years past, had been suf- 
fering under a pulmonary complaint, and under its 
effects could have reckoned but on a short exist- 



c«> 



ence. Such was his own conviction. The imme- 
diate cause of his death was an affection of the 
heart. A few hours before he expired, he became 
sensible of his situation ; and when he was unable 
to speak, his eye and look evinced recognition and 
intelligence of what was passing. One of the last 
directions he gave was to a dutiful son, who had 
been attending him, to jiut away some manuscripts 
which had been written a short time before, under 
his dictation. 

Mr. Calhoun was the least despondent man I 
ever knew; and he had, in an eminent degree, the 
self-sustaining power of intellect. His last days, 
and his last remarks, are exemiDlifications of what 
I have just said. Mental determination sustained 
him, when all others were in despair. We saw 
him, a few days ago, in the seat near me, which he 
had so long and honorably occupied; we saw the 
struggle of a great mind exerting itself to sustain and 
overcome the weakness and infirmities of a sinking- 
body. It was the exhibition of a wounded eagle, 
with his eyes turned to the heavens in which he had 
soared, but into which his wings could never carry 
him again. 

Mr. President, Mr. Calhoun has lived in an 
eventful period of our Republic, and has acted a 
distinguished part. I surely do not venture too 
nuich, when I say that his reputation forms a striking 
part of a glorious history. Since 1811 until this 



»> 



time, he has been responsibly connected with the 
Federal Government. As Representative, Senator, 
Cabinet Minister, and Vice President, he has been 
identified with the greatest events in the political 
history of our country. And I hope I may be per- 
mitted to say that he has been equal to all the duties 
Avhich were devolved upon him in the many critical 
junctures in which he was placed. Having to act 
a responsible part, he always acted a decided part. 
It Avould not become me to venture upon the judg- 
ment which awaits his memory. That will be formed 
by posterity before the impartial tribunal of history. 
It may be that he will have had the fate, and will 
have given to him the judgment that has been 
awarded to Chatham. 

I should do the memory of my friend injustice 
were I not to speak of his life in the spirit of his- 
tory. The dignity of his whole character would 
rebuke any tone of remark which truth and judg- 
ment would not sanction. 

Mr. CALHOUiSrwas a native of South Carolina, and 
was born in Abbeville district, on the 18th March, 
1782. He was of an Irish family. His father, 
Patrick Calhoun, was born in Ireland, and at an 
early age came to Pennsylvania, thence moved to 
the western part of Virginia, and after Braddock's 
defeat, moved to South Carolina, in 1756. He and 
his family gave a name to what is known as the 
Calhoun settlement in Abbeville district. The 



8 

mother of my colleague was a Miss Caldwell, born 
in Charlotte county, Virginia. The character of 
his parents had no doubt a sensible influence on the 
destiny of their distinguished son. His father had 
energy and enterprise, combined with perseverance 
and great mental determination. His mother be- 
longed to a family of revolutionary heroes. Two 
of her brothers were distinguished in the Revolu- 
tion. Their names and achievements are not left 
to tradition, but constitute a part of the history of 
the times. 

Mr. Calhoun was born in the Revolution, and in 
his childhood felt the influence of its exciting tradi- 
tions. He derived from the paternal stock, intellect 
and self-reliance, and from the Caldwell's, enthusiasm 
and impulse. The traditions of the Revolution had 
a sensible influence on his temper and character. 

Mr. Calhoun, in his childhood, had but limited 
advantages of what is termed a literary tuition. His 
parents lived in a newly-settled country, and among 
a sparse population. This population had but a 
slight connection with the lower country of South 
Carolina, and were sustained by emigrants from 
Virginia and Pennsylvania. There was, of course, 
but limited means of instruction to children. They 
imbibed most of their lessons from the conversation 
of their parents. Mr. Calhoun has always express- 
ed himself deeply sensible of that influence. At 
the age of thirteen he was put under the charge of 



•w 



9 

his brother-in-law, Dr. Waddel, in Columbia county, 
Georgia. Scarcely had he commenced his literary 
course before his father and sister died. His brother- 
in-law, Dr. Waddel, devoted himself about this time 
to his clerical duties, and was a great deal absent 
from home. 

On his second marriage, he resumed the duties of 
his academy; and, in his nineteenth year, Mr. Cal- 
houn put himself under the charge of this distin- 
guished teacher. It must not be supposed that his 
mind, before this, had been unemployed. He had 
availed himself of the advantages of a small library, 
and had been deeply inspired by his reading of his- 
tor}^ It was under such influences that he entered 
the academy of his preceptor. His progress was 
rapid. He looked forward to a higher arena with 
eagerness and purpose. 

He became a student in Yale College in 1802, and 
graduated two ^'^ears afterwards w^ith distinction, 
as a young man of great ability, and with the re- 
spect and confidence of his preceptors and fellows. 
What they have said and thought of him Avould 
have given any man a high reputation. It is the 
pure fountain of a clear reputation. If the stream 
has met with obstructions, they were such as have 
only shown its beauty and majesty. 

After he had izraduated, Mr. Calhoun studied 
law, and for a few years practiced in the courts of 
South Carolina, with a reputation that has descend- 



10 

ed to the profession. He was then remarkable for 
some traits that have since characterized him. He 
was clear in his propositions, and candid in his in- 
tercourse with his brethren. The truth and justice 
of the law inculcated themselves on his mind, and 
Avhen armed with these, he was a great advocate. 

His forensic career Avas, however, too limited to 
make a prominent part in the history of his life. He 
served for some years in the Legislature of his native 
State ; and his great mind made an impression on 
her statutes, some of which have had a great prac- 
tical operation on the concerns of society. From 
the Legislature of his own State he was transferred 
to Congress ; and from that time his career has been 
a part of the history of the Federal Government. 

Mr. Calhoux came into Congress at a time of 
deep and exciting interest — at a crisis of great mag- 
nitude. It was a crisis of peril to those who had 
to act in it, but of subsequent glory to the actors 
and the common history of the country. The in- 
vincibility of Great Britain had become a 2)roverbial 
expression, and a war with her was full of terrific 
issues. Mr. CALnouisr found himself at once in a 
situation of high responsibility — one that required 
more than speaking qualities and eloquence to fulfil 
it. The spirit of the people required direction ; the 
energy and ardor of youth were to be employed in 
ai!\iirs requiring the maturer qualities of a statesman. 
The part which Mr. Calhoun acted at this time 



"» 



11 

has been approved and applauded by cotemporaries, 
and now forms a part of the glorious history of those 
times. 

The names of Clay, Calhoun, Ciieves, and 
Lowndes, Grundy, Porter, and others, carried asso- 
ciations with them that reached the heart of the na- 
tion. Their clarion notes penetrated the army,* they 
animated the people, and sustained the Administra- 
tion of the Government. With such actors, and in 
such scenes — the most eventful of our history — to 
say that Mr. Calhoun did not perform a second 
part, is no common praise. In debate he was equal 
with Randolph, and in council he commanded the 
respect and confidence of Madison. At this period 
of his life he had the quality of Themistocles — to 
inspire confidence — which, after all, is the highest of 
earthly qualities in a public man ; it is a mystical 
something, which is felt, but cannot be described. 

The events of the war were brilliant and honor- 
able to both statesmen and soldiers, and their history 
may be read with enthusiasm and delight. The 
war terminated with honor ; but the measures which 
had to be taken, in a transition to a peace establish- 
ment, were full of difficulty and embarrassment. 
41 

* Governor Dodge (now a senator on this floor), who was at that 
time a gallant officer of the army, informs me that the speeches of 
Calhoun and Clay were publicly read to the army, and exerted a 
most decided influence on the spirits of the men. 

« — « 



12 

This distinguished statesman, with his usual intrepi- 
dity, did not hesitate to take a responsible and lead- 
ing part. Under the influence of a broad patriotism, 
he acted with an uncalculating liberality to all the 
interests that were involved, and which were brought 
under review of Congress. His personal adversary 
at this time, in his admiration for his genius, paid 
Mr. Calhoun a beautiful compliment for his noble 
and national sentiments, and views of policy. The 
gentleman to whom I refer, is Mr. Grosvenor, of 
N. Y., who used the following language in debate : — 
" He had heard with peculiar satisfaction the 
able, manly, and constitutional speech of the gen- 
tleman from South Carolina. (Here Mr. Grosvenor 
recurring in his own mind to a personal difference 
with Mr. CALnoUN, which arose out of the warm 
party discussions during the war, paused for a mo- 
ment, and then proceeded.) 

" Mr. Speaker, I will not be restrained. No bar- 
rier shall exist, which I will not leap over for the 
purpose of offering to that gentleman my thanks 
for the judicious, independent, and national course 
which he has pursued in this House for the last two 
years, and particularly)" on the subject now before us. 
Let the honorable gentleman continue *'ith the same 
manly independence, aloof from party views and 
local prejudices, to pursue the great interests of his 
country, and to fulfil the high destiny for which it 
is manifest he was born. The buzz of popular ap- 



■«) 



13 

plause may not cheer him on his way, bnt he Mill 
inevital)ly arrive at a high and hnppy elevation in 
the view of his country and the ^vorld." 

At the termination of Mr. Madison's administra- 
tion, Mr. Caliioun' had acquired a commanding 
reputation; he was regarded as one of the sages of 
the Republic. In 1817, Mr. Monroe invited him to 
a place in his Cabinet. Mr. Calhoun's friends 
doubted the propriety of his accepting it, and some 
of them thought he Avould put a high reputation at 
hazard in this new sphere of action. Perhaps these 
suggestions fired his high and gifted intellect; he 
accepted the place, and w^ent into the War Depart- 
ment under circumstances that might have appalled 
other men. His success has been acknowledged. 
What was complex and confused, he reduced to 
simplicity and order. His organization of the War 
Department, and his administration of its undefined 
duties, have made the impression of an autlior, 
having the interest of originality, and the sanction 
of trial. 

To applicants for ofiice, Mr. Calhoux made few 
promises, and hence he was not accused of delusion 
and deception. When a public trust was involved, 
he AYOuld not compromise with duplicity or tempo- 
rary expediency. 

At the expiration of Mr. Monroe's administration, 
Mr. Calhoun's name became connected with the 
Presidency ; and from that time to his death he had 



»- 



«• 



•m 



14 

to share the fate of all others who occupy prominent 
situations. 

The remarkable canvass for the President to suc- 
ceed Mr. Monroe, terminated in returning three dis- 
tinguished men to the House of Representatives, 
from whom one was to be elected. Mr. Calhouj^" 
was elected Vice President by a large majority. He 
took his seat in the Senate, as Vice President, on 
the 4th of March, 1825, having remained in the 
War Department over seven years. 

While he was Vice President, he was placed in 
some of the most trjdng scenes of any man's life. I 
do not now choose to refer to anvthing that can 
have the elements of controversy; but I hope I may 
he permitted to speak of my friend and colleague in 
a character in which all will join in paying him 
sincere respect. As a presiding officer of this body, 
ho had the undivided respect of its members. He 
was punctual, methodical, and impartial, and had a 
high regard for the dignity of the Senate, which, as 
a presiding officer, he endeavored to preserve and 
maintain. He looked upon debate as an honorable 
contest of intellect for truth. Such a strife has its 
incidents and its trials; but Mr. Caliioux had, in 
an eminent degree, a regard for parliamentary dig- 
nity and propriety. 

Upon General Hayne's leaving the Senate to 
become Governor of South Carolina, Mr. Calhoun 
resigned the Vice Presidency, and was elected in 



«■ 



*» 



€> 

15 

liis pliice. All will now agree that such a position 
was environed with difHculties and dangers. His 
own State was under the ban, and he was in the 
national Senate to do her justice under his consti- 
tutional obligations. That part of his life posterity 
will review, and, I am confident, will do it full and 
impartial justice. 

After his senatorial term had expired, he went 
into retirement by his own consent. The death of 
Mr. Upshur — so full of melancholy associations — 
made a vacancy in the State Department; and it 
was by the common consent of all parties that Mr. 
Calhoux was called to fill it. This was a tribute of 
which any public man might well be proud. It was 
a tribute to truth, ability, and experience. Under 
Mr. Calhoun's counsels, Texas was brought into 
the Union. His name is associated with one of the 
most remarkable events of history — that of one Re- 
public being annexed to another by the voluntary 
consent of both. He was the happy agent to bring- 
about this fraternal association. It is a conjunction 
under the sanction of his name, and b}^ an influence 
exerted through his great and intrepid mind. Mr. 
Calhoun's connection with the Executive dejjart- 
ment of the Government terminated with Mr. 
Tyler's administration. As a Secretary of State, he 
won the confidence and respect of foreign ambassa- 
dors, and his dispatches were characterized by clear- 
ness, sagacity, and boldness. 



«• 



16 

He was not allowed to remain in retirement long. 
For the last five years he has been a member of 
this bod}', and has been engaged in discussions that 
have deeply excited and agitated the country. He 
has died amidst them. I had never had any par- 
ticular association with Mr. Caliioux until I be- 
came his colleague in this body. I had looked on 
his fame as others had done, and had admired his 
character. There are those here who know more 
of him than I do. I shall not pronounce any such 
judgment as may be subject to a controversial 
criticism. But I will say, as a matter of justice, 
from my o^\m personal knowledge, that I never 
knew a fairer man in argument, or a juster man in 
purpose. His intensity allowed of little compro- 
mise. While he did not qualify his own positions 
to suit the temper of the times, he appreciated the 
unmasked propositions of others. As a Senator, he 
commanded the respect of the ablest men of the 
body of which he was a mem1)er; and I believe I 
may say that, where there was no political bias to 
inlhience the judgment, he had the confidence of 
his brethren. As a statesman, Mr. CalhoujSt's re- 
putation belongs to the history of the country, and 
I commit it to his countrymen and posterity. 

In my opinion, Mr. Caliioux deserves to occupy 
the first rank as a parliamentary speaker. He had 
always before him the dignit}^ of purpose, and he 
spoke to an end. From a full mind, fired by genius, 



17 

he expressed his ideas with clearness, simplicity, and 
force; and in language that seemed to be the vehicle 
of his thoughts and emotions. His thoughts leaped 
from his mind, like arroMS from a well-drawn bow. 
Tliev had both the aim and force of a skillful 
archer. He seemed to have had little regard for 
ornament ; and when he used figures of speech, they 
were only for illustration. His manner and coun- 
tenance were his best language ; and in these there 
was an exemplification of what is meant by Action 
in that term of the great Athenian orator and 
statesman, whom, in so many respects, he so closely 
resembled. They served to exhibit the moral ele- 
vation of the man. 

In speaking of Mr. Calhoun as a man and a 
• neighbor, I am sure I may speak of him in a sphere 
in which all will love to contemplate him. Whilst 
he w^as a gentleman of striking deportment, he was 
a man of primitive taste and simple manners. He 
had the hardy virtues and simple tastes of a repul> 
lican citizen. No one disliked ostentation and ex- 
hibition more than he did. When I say he was a 
good neujlibor, I imply more than I have expressed. 
It is summed up under the word justice. I will 
venture to say, that no one in his private relations 
could ever say that Mr. Calhoux treated liim with 
injustice, or that he deceived him by professions or 
concealments. His private character Avas illus- 
trated by a beautiful propriety, and was the exem- 



•» 



18 

plificatiou of truth, justice, temperance, and fidelity 
to all his engagements. 

I will venture another remark. Mr. Calhoux 
vras fierce in his contests with poUtical adversaries. 
He did not stop in the fight to count losses or be- 
stow favors. But he forgot resentments, and for- 
gave injuries inflicted by rivals, with signal magna- 
nimity. Whilst he spoke freely of their faults, he 
could with justice appreciate the merits of all the 
public men of whom I have heard him speak. He 
was sincerely attached to the institutions of this 
country, and desired to preserve them pure and 
make them perpetual. 

By the death of Mr. Calhoux, one of the bright- 
est luminaries has been extmguished in the political 
firmament. It is an event which will produce a 
deep sensation throughout this broad land, and the 
civilized world. 

I have forborne to speak of his domestic rela- 
tions. They make a sacred circle, and I will not 
invade it. 

Mr. Butler then ofiered the following resolutions : 

Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed by the 
Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of the 
Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun, which will take place to-morrow, 
at 12 o'clock meridian, and that the Senate will attend the same. 

Resolved unanimously, That the members of the Senate, from a 
sincere desire of showing every mark of respect due to the memory 
of the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun, deceased, late a member 



19 

thereof, will go into mourning for him for one month, by the usual 
mode of wearing crape on the left arm. 

Resolved unanimoiisli/, That, as an atlditional mark of respect to 
the memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn. 



Mr. Clay. — Mr. Presidext, prompted by my own 
feelings of profound regret, and by the intimations 
of some liigbly esteemed friends, I wish, in rising to 
second the resolutions which have been offered, and 
which have just been read, to add a few words to 
what has been so well and so justly said by the sur- 
viving colleague of the illustrious deceased. 

My personal acquaintance with him, Mr. Presi- 
dent, commenced upwards of thirty-eight years ago. 
We entered at the same time, together, the House 
of Representatives at the other end of this building. 
The Congress, of which we thus became members, 
w^as that amongst whose deUberations and acts w^as 
the declaration of war against the most powerful 
nation, as it respects us, in the world. Duriug the 
preliminary discussions Avhich arose in tlie prepara- 
tion for that great event, as well as during those 
which took place when the resolution was finally 
adopted, no member displayed a more lively and 
patriotic sensibility to the wrongs which led to that 
momentous event than the deceased Avhose death we 
all now so much deplore. Ever active, ardent, able, 
no one was in advance of him in advocating the 
cause of his country, and denouncing the foreign 



20 

injustice which compelled us to appeal to arms. Of 
all the Congresses with which I have had any ac- 
quaintance since my entry into the service of the 
Federal Government, in none, in my humble opinion, 
has been assembled such a galaxy of eminent and 
able men as were in the House of Eepresentatives 
of that Congress which declared the war, and in that 
immediately following the peace ; and, amongst that 
splendid constellation, none shone more bright and 
brilliant than the star which is now set. 

It was my happiness, sir, during a large part of 
the life of the departed, to concur with him on all 
great questions of national policy. And, at a later 
period, when it was my fortune to difter from him 
as to measures of domestic policy, I had the happi- 
ness to agree with him generally as to those which 
concerned our foreign relations, and especially as to 
the preservation of the peace of the country. During 
the long session at which the war was declared, we 
were messmates, as were other distinguished mem- 
Ijers of Congress from his OAvn patriotic State. I 
was afforded, by the intercourse which resulted from 
that fact, as well as the subsequent intimacy and 
intercourse which arose between us, an opportunity 
to form an estimate, not merely of his public, but of 
his private life; and no man with whom I have ever 
l)een acquainted, exceeded him in habits of temper- 
ance and regularit}^, and in all the freedom, frank- 
ness, and aifal)ility of social intercourse, and in all 



21 

the tenderness, and respect, and affection, which he 
manifested towards that lady who now mourns more 
than any other the sad eventwhich has just occurred. 
Such, Mr. President, was the high estimate I formed 
of his transcendent talents, that, if at the end of his 
service in the executive dej)artment, under Mr. 
Monroe's administration, the duties of which he per- 
formed with such signal ability, he had been called 
to the highest office in the Government, I should 
have felt perfectly assured that under his auspices, 
the honor, the prosperity, and the glory of our coun- 
try would have been safely placed. 

Sir, he has gone ! No more shall we witness from 
yonder seat the flashes of that keen and penetrating 
eye of his, darting through this chamber. No more 
shall we be thrilled by that torrent of clear, concise, 
compact logic, poured out from his lips, which, if it 
did not always carry conviction to our judgment, 
always commanded our great admiration. Those 
eyes and those lips are closed forever! 

And when, Mr. President, will that great vacancy 
wliich has been created by the event to which we 
are now alluding, when will it be filled by an equal 
amount of ability, patriotism, and devotion, to what 
he conceived to be the best interests of his country ? 

Sir, this is not the appropriate occasion, nor would 
I be the appropriate person to attempt a delineation 
of his character, or the powers of his enlightened 
mind. I will only say, in a few words, that he 

m 9 



22 

possessed an elevated genius of the highest order; 
that in felicity of generalization of the subjects of 
which his mind treated, I have seen him surpassed 
by no one; and the charm and captivating influence 
of his colloquial powers have been felt by all who 
have conversed with him. I was his senior, Mr. 
President, in years — in nothing else, xlccording to 
the course of nature, I ought to have preceded him. 
It has been decreed otherwise; but I know that I 
shall linger here only a short time and shall soon 
follow him. 

And how brief, how short is the period of human 
existence allotted even to the youngest amongst us ! 
Sir, ought we not to j^rofit by the contemplation of 
this melancholy occasion? Ought we not to draw 
from it the conclusion how unwise it is to indulge 
in the acerbity of unbridled debate? How unwise 
to yield ourselves to the sway of the animosities 
of party feeling? How wrong it is to indulge in 
those unhappy and hot strifes which too often exas- 
perate our feelings and mislead our judgments in 
the discharge of the high and responsible duties 
which we are called to perform ? How unbecoming, 
if not presumptuous, it is in us, who are the tenants 
of an hour in this earthly abode, to wrestle and 
strua<;le together with a violence which would not 

CO o 

be justifiable if it were our perpetual home! 

In conclusion, sir, while I beg leave to express 
my cordial sympathies and sentiments of the deej> 



i- 



23 

est condolence towards all who stand in near relation 
to him, I trust we shall all be instructed by the 
eminent virtues and merits of his exalted character, 
and be taught by his bright example to fulfdl our 
great public duties by the lights of our own judg- 
ment and the dictates of our own consciences, as he 
did, according to his honest and best comprehension 
of those duties, faithfully and to the last. 

Mr. Webster. — I hope the Senate will indulge 
me in adding a very few words to what has been 
said. My apology for this presumption is the very 
long acquaintance which has subsisted between Mr. 
Calhoun and myself. We are of the same age. I 
made my first entrance into the House of Repre- 
sentatives in May, 1813, and there found Mr. Cal- 
houn. He had already been in that hody for two 
or three years. I found him then an active and 
efficient member of the assembly to which he be- 
longed, taking a decided part, and exercising a 
decided influence, in all its dehberations. 

From that day to the day of his death, amidst all 
the strifes of party and politics, there has subsisted 
between us, always, and without interruption, a 
great degree of personal kindness. 

Differing widely on many great questions respect- 
ing the institutions and government of the country, 
those differences never interrupted our personal and 
social intercoui-se. I have been present at most of 



24 



the distiii2;uished instances of the exhibition of hi 



o 



S 



talents in debate. I have always heard him witli 
pleasure, often Avith much instruction, not unfre- 
quently with the highest degree of admiration. 

Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in 
whatsoever association of political friends he was 
thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius, and 
of commanding talent. All the country and all the 
world admit that. His mind was both perceptive 
and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong. 

Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoux, or the manner 
of his exhibition of his sentiments in pubhc bodies, 
was part of his intellectual cliaracter. It grew out 
of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong, 
terse, condensed, concise; sometimes impassioned — 
still always severe. Rejecting ornament, not often 
seeking far for illustration, his power consisted in 
the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of 
his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his 
manner. These are the qualities, as I think, which 
have enabled him through such a long course of 
3' ears to speak often, and yet always command at- 
tention. His demeanor as a Senator is known to 
us all — is appreciated, venerated by us all. No 
man was more respectful to otliers; no man carried 
himself with greater decorum, no man with superior 
dignity. I think there is not one of us but felt 
when he last addressed us from his scat in the 
Senate, his form still erect, with a voice by no 



- 25 

means indicating such a degree of physical weakness 
as did, in fact, possess him, with clear tones, and an 
impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner, 
who did not feel that he might imagine that we saw 
before us a Senator of Rome, when Rome survived. 

Sir, I have not in public nor in private life, 
known a more assiduous person in the discharge of 
his appropriate duties. 1 have known no man who 
wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or 
employed less of it in any pursuits not connected with 
the immediate dischar^re of his dutv. He seemed to 
have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation 
with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, 
he was either devoting himself to the acquisition of 
knowledge pertaining to the immediate subject of 
the duty before him, or else he was mdulging in 
those social interviews in which he so much de- 
lighted. 

My honorable friend from Kentucky has spoken 
in just terms of his colloquial talents. They cer- 
tainly were singular and eminent. There was a 
charm in his conversation not often found. He 
delighted, especially, in conversation and intercourse 
with young men. I suppose that there has been no 
man among us who had more winning manners, in 
such an intercourse and conversation, with men 
comparatively young, than Mr. Calhoux. I believe 
one great powder of his character, in general, was his 
conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well 



■•« 



26 

as a consciousness of his high integrity, and the 
greatest reverence for his intellect and ability, that 
has made him so endeared an object to the people of 
the State to which he belonged. 

Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable 
basis, of all high character; and that was, unspotted 
integrity — unimpeached honor and character. If 
he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, 
and noble. There was nothing groveling, or low, 
or meanly selfish, that came near the head or the 
heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, per- 
fectly patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in 
the principles that he espoused, and in the measures 
that he defended, aside from that large regard for 
that species of distinction that conducted him to 
eminent stations for the benefit of the repubfic, I 
do not beUeve he had a selfish motive, or selfish 
feeling. 

However, sir, he may have differed from others of 
us in his political opinions, or his political princi- 
ples, those principles and those opinions will now 
descend to posterity under the sanction of a great 
name. He has lived long enough, he has done 
enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, 
so honorably, as to connect himself for all time with 
the records of his country. He is now a historical 
character. Those of us who have known him here, 
will find that he has left upon our minds and our 
hearts a strong and lasting impression of his person. 



8^- 



f, a 

27 

his character, and his public performances, which, 
while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall 
hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful re- 
collection that we have lived in his age, that we 
have been his cotemporaries, that we have seen 
him, and heard him, and known him. We shall 
delight to speak of him to those who are rising up 
to fill our places. And, when the time shall come 
when we ourselves shall go, one after another, in 
succession, to our graves, we shall carry with us a 
deep sense of his genius and character, his honor 
and integrity, his amiable deportment in private life, 
and the purity of his exalted patriotism. 

Mr. EusK. — Mr. President : I hope it will not 
be considered inappropriate for me to say a word 
upon this solemn occasion. Being a native of the 
same State with the distinguished Senator whose 
death has cast such a gloom upon this Senate and 
the audience here assembled, I had the good for- 
tune, at an early period of my life, to make his 
acquaintance. At that time he was just entermg 
on that bright career which has now terminated. 
I was then a boy, with prospects anything but 
flattering. To him, at that period, I was indebted 
for words of kindness and encouragement; and 
often since, in the most critical positions in which 
I have been placed, a recurrence to those words of 
encouragement has mspired me with resolution to 



#■■ 



■« 



28 

meet difficulties that beset mv path. Four years 
ago, I had the pleasure of renewing that acquaint- 
ance, after an absence of some fifteen years; and 
this took 2Dlace after he had taken an active part in 
the question of annexing Texas to the United 
States, adding a new sense of obligation to my 
feeling of gratitude. 

In the stirring questions that have agitated the 
country, it was my misfortune sometimes to differ 
from him, but it is a matter of heartfelt gratifica- 
tion for me to know that our personal relations re- 
mained unaltered. And, sir, it will be a source of 
pleasant though sad reflection to me throughout 
Hfe to remember, that on the last day on which he 
occupied his seat in this chamber, his body worn 
do^^^l by disease, but his mind as vigorous as ever, 
we held a somewhat extended conversation on the 
exciting topics of the day, in which the same kind 
feelings, which had so strongly impressed me in 
youth, Avere still manifested toward me by the 
veteran statesman. But, sir, he is gone from among 
us; his voice will never again be heard in this 
chamber; his active and vigorous mind will partici- 
pate no more in our councils; his spirit has left a 
world of trouble, care, and anxiety, to join the 
spirits of those patriots and statesmen who have 
preceded him to a brighter and better world. If, 
as many believe, the spirits of the departed hover 
around the places they have left, I earnestly pray 

I: — m 



m 

29 

that his may soon be permitted to look back upon 
our countiy, which he has left in excitement, con- 
fusion, and apprehension, restored to calmness, se- 
curity, and fraternal feeling as broad as the bounds 
of our Union, and as fixed as the eternal principles of 
justice in which our Government has its foundation. 

Mr. Clemens. — I do not expect, Mr. President, to 
add anything to what has already been said of the 
illustrious man, whose death we all so deeply de- 
plore ; but silence upon an occasion like this, would 
by no means meet the expectations of those whose 
representative I am. To borrow a figure from the 
Senator from Kentucky, the brightest star in the 
brilliant galaxy of the Union has gone out, and 
Alabama claims a place among the chief mourners 
over the event. Difiering often from the great 
Southern statesman on questions of public policy, 
she has yet always accorded due homage to his 
genius, and still more to that blameless j)i^ii'ity of 
life which entitles him to the highest and the no- 
blest epitaph which can be graven upon a mortal 
tomb. For more than forty years an active parti- 
cipant in all the fierce struggles of party, and sur- 
rounded by those corrupting influences to which the 
politician is so often subjected, his personal character 
remained not only untarnished, but unsuspected. 
He walked through the flames, and even the hem 
of his garment was unscorched. 



«- 



•m 



30 

It is no part of my purpose to enter into r recital 
of the public acts of John C. Calhoun. It has al- 
ready been partly done by his colleague ; but, even 
that, in my judgment, was unnecessary. Tears after 
the celebrated battle of ThermojDylse, a traveler, on 
^asiting the spot, found a monument with the simple 
inscription, " Stranger, go tell at Lacedremon that 
we died in obedience to her laws." " Why is it," he 
asked, "that the names of those who fell here are 
not inscribed on the stone?" "Because," was the 
proud reply, "it is impossible that any Greek should 
ever forget them." Even so it is with him of whom 
I speak. His acts are graven on the hearts of his 
countrymen, and time has no power to obliterate the 
characters. Throughout this broad land 



" The meanest rill, the mightiest river, 
Rolls mingling with his fame forever." 

Living, sir, in an age distinguished above all others 
for its intelhgence, surrounded throughout his whole 
career by men, any one of w^hom would have marked 
an era in the world's history, and stamped the time 
in which he lived with immortality, Mr. Calhoun 
yet won an intellectual eminence, and commanded 
an admiration not only unsurpassed but unequaled, 
in all its parts, by any of his giant compeers. That 
great light is now extinguished; a place in this 
Senate is made vacant which cannot be filled. The 
sad tidings have been borne uj^on the lightning's 



»■ 



•» 



#- 



31 

wing to the remotest corners of the RejDublic, and 
millions of freemen are now mourning with us over 
all that is left of one who was scarcely "lower than 
the angels." 

I may be permitted, Mr. President, to express my 
gratification at w^hat we have heard and witnessed 
this day. Kentucky has been heard through the 
lips of one, who is not only her greatest statesman, 
but the world's greatest living orator. The great 
expounder of the constitution, whose massive intel- 
lect seems to comprehend and give clearness to all 
things beneath the sun, has spoken for the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. From every quarter the 
voice of mourning is mingled with notes of the 
highest admiration. These crowded galleries, the 
distinguished gentlemen who fill this floor, all 
indicate that here have 

" Bards, artists, sages, reverently met, 
To waive each separating plea 
Of sect, clime, party, and degree. 
All honoring him on whom nature all honor shed." 

The resolutions were then unanimously adopted. 



e- 



-« 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Tuesday, Jpril 2, 1850. 

The remains of the deceased were brought into the Senate at 12 
o'clock, attended by the Committee of Arrangements and the Pall- 
bearers. 



Committee of Arrangements. 



Mr. MASOX, 

Mr. DAVIS, of Miss., 

Mr. ATCHISON, 



Mr. dodge, of Wisconsin, 
Mr. DICKINSON, 
Mr. GREENE. 



Mr. MANGUM, 
Mr. CLAY, 
Mr. WEBSTER, 



Pall-Bearers. 

Mr. CASS, 
Mr. KING, 
Mr. BERRIEN. 



*- 



»' 



A SERMON 

PKEACHED IN THE SENATE CHAMBER, 

APRIL 2, 1850, 

AT THE FUNERAL OF THE 

HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN, 

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. 

BY THE KEV. C. M. BUTLER, D. D., 

CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE. 



I have said ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most 
High ; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.— 
Psalm kxxii. 6, 7. 

OxE of the iDrinces is fallen ! A prince in intel- 
lect ; a prince in his sway over human hearts and 
minds ; a prince in the wealth of his own generous 
affections, and in the rich revenues of admiring love 
poured into his heart ; a prince in the dignity of 
his demeanor— this prince has fallen— fallen ! 

And ye all, his friends and peers, illustrious 
statesmen, orators, and warriors — " I have said ye 
are gods, and all of you are children of the Most 
High ; hut ye shall die like men, and fall like this 
one of the princes !" 

The praises of the honored dead have been, here 



— » 



34 

and elsewhere, fitly sjDoken. The beautifully blend- 
ed benignity, dignity, simplicit}-, and purity of the 
husband, the father, and the friend; the integrity, 
sagacity, and energy of the statesman; the com- 
pressed intenseness, the direct and rapid logic of 
the orator ; all these have been vividly portrayed 
by those Avho themselves illustrate what they de- 
scribe. There seem still to linger around this hall 
echoes of the voices, which have so faithfully sketched 
the life, so happily discriminated the powers, and so 
affectionately eulogized the virtues of the departed, 
that the muse of history will note down the words, 
as the outline of her future lofty narrative, her nice 
analysis, and her glowing praise. 

But the echo of those eulogies dies awa}-. All 
that was mortal of their honored object lies here 
unconscious, in the theatre of his glory. " Lord of 
the lion heart and eagle eye" — tJiei-e lie lies ! that 
strong heart still, that bright eye dim ! Another 
voice claims your ear. The minister of God, stand- 
ing over the dead, is sent to say — " Ye are gods, 
and all of you are children of the Most High; hut 
ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the 
princes." He is sent to remind yoM that there are 
those here, not visible to the eye of sense, who are 
greater than the greatest of ye all — even Deatii, and 
Death's Lord and Master. 

Death is here. I see him stand over his prostrate 
victim, and grimly smile, and shake at us his unsated 

# m 



35 

spear, and bid us all attend this day on him. He 
is King to-day, and leads us all captive in his train, 
to swell his triumph and proclaim his power. And 
there is no visitant that can stand before the soul of 
man, with such claims on his aAved, intent, and 
teachable attention. When, as on a day, and in a 
scene Hke this, he holds us in his presence and bids 
us hear him — who can dare to disregard his man- 
date ? Oh, there is no thought or fact, having re- 
ference to this brief scene of things, however it may 
come mth a port and tone of dignity and power, 
which does not dwindle into meanness, in the presence 
of that great thought, that great fact, which has 
entered and darkened the Capitol to-day — Death ! 
To make us see that by a law perfectly inevitable 
and irresistible, soul and body are soon to separate ; 
that this busy scene of earth is to be suddenly and for- 
ever left ; that this human heart is to break through 
the circle of warm, congenial, fomiliar and fostering 
S3^mpathies and associations, and to put off, all alone, 
into the silent dark — this is the object of the dread 
message to us of death. And as that message is 
spoken to a soul which is conscious of sin ; which 
knows that it has not within itself resources for self- 
purification, and self-sustaining peace and joy ; which 
realizes, in the very core of its conscience, retribu- 
tion as a moral law ; it comes fraught with the un- 
rest, which causes it to be at once dismissed, or which 
lodges it in the soul, a visitant whose first coming is 



«- 



m 

36 

gloom, but whose continued presence shall be glory. 
Then the anxious spirit, peering out with intense 
earnestness into the dark unknown, may, in vain, 
question earth of the destmy of the soul, and hft to 
heaven the passionate invocation — 

" Answer me, burning stars of night, 
Where hath the spirit gone ; 
Which, past the reach of mortal sight, 
E'en as a breeze hath flown 1" 

And the stars answer him, " We roll 

In pomp and power on high ; 
But of the never dying soul, 

Ask thino-s that cannot die !" 



o 



" Things that cannot die !" God only can tell us 
of the spirit-world. He assures us, by his Son, that 
death is the child of sin. He tells us what is the 
power of this king of terrors. He shows us that in 
sinning "Adam all die." He declares to us that, 
sinful by nature and by practice, we are condemned 
to death ; that we are consigned to wo ; that we are 
unfit for Heaven; that the condition of the soul 
which remains thus condemned and unchanged, is far 
drearier and more dreadful be^'ond, than this side, 
the grave. No wonder that men shrink from con- 
verse with death; for all his messages are wofid 
and appalling. 

But, thanks be to God! though death be here, 
so also is death's Lord and Master. "As in Adam 



•i) 



»' 



37 

all die, even so in Christ shall all l)e made alive." 
That Saviour, Christ, assures us that all who repent, 
and forsake their sins, and believe in him, and live 
to him, shall rise to a life glorious and eternal, with 
Him and His, in Heaven. He tells us that if we 
are his, those sharp shafts which death rattles in 
our ears to-day, shall but transfix, and only for a 
season, the garment of our mortality ; and that the 
emancipated spirits of the righteous shall be borne, 
on angel wings, to that peaceful paradise where they 
shall enjoy perpetual rest and felicity. Then it 
need not be a gloomy message which we deliver to 
you to-day, that " ye shall die as men and fall like 
one of the princes ;" for it tells us that the humblest 
of men may be made equal to the angels ; and that 
earth's princes may become "kings and priests 
unto God!" 

In the presence of these simplest yet grandest 
truths ; with these thoughts of death and the con- 
queror of death ; wath this splendid trophy of his 
power proudly held up to our view by death, I 
need utter to you no commonplace on the vanity 
of our mortal life, the inevitableness of its termina- 
tion, and the solemnities of our after-being. Here 
and now, on this theme, the silent dead is preach- 
iug to you more impressively than could the most 
eloquent of the living. You feel now, in your in- 
most heart, that that great upper range of things 
with which you are connected as immortals j that 



— s 



38 

moral administration of God, who stretclies over the 
infinite of existence; that magnificent system of 
ordered governments, to whose lower circle we now 
belong, which consists of thrones, dominions, j^rin- 
cipalities, and powers, which rise, 

" Orb o'er orb, and height o'er height," 

to the enthroned Supreme ; — you feel that this, your 
high relation to the Infinite and Eternal, makes poor 
and low the most august and imposing scenes and 
dignities of earth, which flit, like shadows, through 
your three-score years and ten. Oh happy will it 
be, if the vivid sentiment of the hour become the 
actuating conviction of the life ! HapjDy will it be, 
if it take its place in the centre of the soul, and in- 
form all its thoughts, feelings, principles, and aims! 
Then shall this lower system of human things be 
consciously linked to, and become part of, and take 
glory from that spiritual sphere, which, all unseen, 
encloses us, whose actors and heroes are " angels and 
archangels, and all the company of heaven." Then 
would that be permanently and habitually felt by 
all, which was here, and in the other chamber yester- 
day so eloquently expressed, that " vain are the per- 
sonal strifes and party contests in which you daily 
engage, in view of the great account which you may 
all so soon be called upon to render ;"•=' and that ''it 

* Mv. Winthrop's speech in the House of Kcpresentatives. 



39 

is unbecoming and presumptuous in those who are 
the tenants of an hour in this earthly abode, to 
wrestle and struggle together with a violence which 
would not be justifiable if it were your perpetual 
home."* Then, as we see to-day, the sister States, 
hy their Representatives, linked hand in hand, in 
mournful attitude, around the bier of one in whose 
fame they all claim a share, we should look upon 
3'ou as engaged in a sacrament of religious patriotism, 
whose spontaneous, unpremeditated vow, springing 
consentient from all your hearts, and going up 
unitedly to heaven, would be — "Liberty and Union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable !" 

But I must no longer detain you. May we all 

"So live, that when our summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan, that moves 
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
We go not like the quarry-slave at night 
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach our grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

* Mr. Clay's speech in the Senate. 



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